Love Square Fluff Week 2k19
by InTheWild
Summary: Series of unconnected one-shots and drabbles written for ML Love Square Fluff Week 2k20. I've written all of the prompts to be set post Miracle Queen, so if you haven't finished watching Season 3 this is your warning that there'll be spoilers sprinkled throughout.


**ML Fluff Week – Day 1: Concert**

**Green Eyed Unicorn**

**oooooooooo**

It had been silly to make a Kitty Section mask for Adrien. His father had stopped letting him practice with the band _weeks_ ago. Sure, he and Kagami had managed to sneak away from fencing practice once or twice, but Adrien never asked to play with everyone again.

Even though he always had a smile on his face, and Marinette could tell he enjoyed spending time with them, she could sense a lingering disappointment underneath his cheery exterior. So, when Jagged Stone announced that he wanted Kitty Section to play a few songs as one of his opening acts for his one-night-only performance celebrating Fang's birthday, Marinette set to work painting a new mask and assembling some shoulder pads.

It had taken her until the night before the concert to put the finishing touches on the new outfit. Hopefully it would blend in well with the rest of the band, while still making sure Adrien's looked unique enough to not be a complete copy of the others. But the problem was, she had no way to know if it would even fit him. As far as she knew, Adrien didn't know about the concert at all (she had been too shy to text him about it). She had done all this work for nothing.

Groaning, she turned up the Jagged Stone music she had been blasting as inspiration, and leaned back in her chair.

"Tikki, did I take it too far again?" She had to raise her voice over the music. "I've been trying so hard to think of him as 'Adrien my friend' and not 'Adrien the love of my life,' and I think making him this whole ensemble might have been a step backwards."

Tikki floated up to meet Marinette's eye level. "Friends do things for each other right? I'm sure Adrien would be thrilled to know you were thinking about him. You just have to get over your fear of being the one to text him first!"

"Yeah Tikki, let me just call him up and say, 'oh hey Adrien, I know you haven't been at Kitty Section practices lately, and I've noticed how sad you've been – you know, as a friend – and so I spent all my free time this week making you a stage costume that will perfectly accentuate your eyes. You know, as a friend.'"

Tikki narrowed her eyes. "Marinette – "

But before she could finish what was surely going to be some of her signature kwami advice, there was a loud rapping sound on the skylight above them.

Marinette and Tikki quirked their brows at each other in unison, silently asking the same question. _Chat? Why is he here?_

Tapping to turn down the volume on her computer first, Marinette then climbed up the ladder to her bed to push open the window while Tikki quickly zipped away to hide.

"Marinette!" Chat popped his head inside so quickly that he almost smacked her right in the nose with his forehead. "I've been knocking for five minutes!"

"Is something wrong?" She scooted back a bit on her bed to let him inside all the way. It was unlike Chat to just show up on her roof without a reason.

"I was patrolling when I saw that cop Roger was outside the bakery. He about to give you guys a ticket for a noise violation. So, I'm here to rescue you!"

Marinette scoffed. "Well, the music is turned down now. Looks like I rescued myself," she teased.

"Ah, but you wouldn't have _known_ you needed rescuing if it hadn't been for me," he crossed his arms. "Why were you blasting the music so loud anyways?"

She shrugged. "I was getting frustrated with this project I'm working on, and the music helps drown out my thoughts."

"Oooh, a project?" He wiggled like he was ready to pounce. "I wanna see, I wanna see!"

"Chaaat," Marinette whined, attempting to block his view to where the ensemble was sitting on her desk below them.

But her attempts were useless. With his super-enhanced reflexes, he was able to lunge around her easily, landing on the floor below them with a quiet grace. Even if the way he insisted on landing on all fours was a bit over the top.

He delicately picked up the green, white, and purple adorned chest plate between two clawed fingers, and quirked his head in curiosity. "Is there a new member of Kitty Section?"

Marinette made her way down to meet him. "You've _heard_ of Kitty Section?"

"O-of course!" He set down the shoulder pads, and switched to inspect the unicorn mask with an equally quizzical look. "I mean, they are _Kitty_ Section, it would be a crime if I didn't know about them."

Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Besides Ladybug and I had to save Lu- uh, the lead singer after he got akumatized when that jerk record label guy tried to steal their music. And your costumes too, of course." He shot her a wink.

"Oh, r-right."

"I've listened to their music a bit too, they're really good! Plus, their stage gear is awesome! You're a really talented designer Marinette."

"Thanks Chat…" Even after spending so much time around him as Ladybug, his easy honesty still took her off guard. Especially as her civilian self. "These designs are probably going to waste though."

He held the unicorn mask in front of his magical black one, his cat eyes piercing through them both, and tilted his head. "Why's that?"

Marinette huffed, collapsing down into her desk chair. "Because the person I made them for doesn't even know I did this! And the show is _tomorrow_, he probably won't even be able to make it there, and if I just call him up and explain it to him now the whole thing is just gonna seem _weird_."

Chat shrugged, and gently placed the mask back down on the desk. "That doesn't sound weird to me."

"Of course it doesn't seem weird to _you_." Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Heyy," Chat whined, "what's that supposed to mean?"

She chuckled dryly. "Sorry Kitty, it's not a bad thing. It's just that you can say whatever you're thinking and feeling whenever you want, and I… well, I'm not like that."

He shrugged again. "Well, why don't you try it out. Trust me, it's very liberating. What's the worst that could happen?"

Sighing, Marinette picked up the mask from the desk, lightly tracing the green lightning bolt that crossed over the right eye. "I guess I just don't want him to think it's some declaration of love or something. Adrien has seemed so bummed out about missing band practices that I just started doodling this without thinking. And when I first started working on it, I was just so focused on making him feel better, that time got away from me, I never mentioned it to him, and I didn't really think about the fact that an unprompted and personal, handmade gift like this could be interpreted in other ways."

Lost in her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed the way Chat had stilled somewhere in the middle of her rambling. "You… you made these for Adrien Agreste?"

"Yeah," she breathed through a chuckle. "Stupid right? I've been trying to be a better friend to him lately, but now I'm not sure this was the right thing. His father never lets him out anyway, so I should probably just trash these and forget the whole thi – "

"You have to text him." Chat interrupted hastily. "Right now. Get out your phone."

"W-what?" She looked up at him, flustered. "Why?"

"Because it's getting late and if you don't do it soon, you'll miss your opportunity!" His eyes were roaming around her room almost wildly as he searched for what she assumed was her phone.

"Chat, come on!"

Her nerves were spiking, and she had to lunge as soon as she saw his eyes land on where her phone sat in front of her computer. Grasping it in her hand as tightly as she could, she held it high above her head and leaned back in her seat.

"I don't even know if I got the m-mea – sure – ments right." She was quickly running out of breath, as he climbed onto the chair with her to reach his arm behind her. He was waggling it around aimlessly, trying to reach her phone and threatening their balance.

"So, try it on me first!" He launched his entire body weight forward, causing them to tumble backwards with a shriek.

There was some scrambling above her as she tried to roll over, but the chair was pinned underneath her uncomfortably. As soon as she was on her stomach, she saw her phone already in his hand.

"Give it back!"

"Nope! Not until you promise to text him!" He clutched the phone to his chest and scooted away from he as best he could from the awkward angle he had landed in.

They were both panting, and as much as she wanted to continue to fight back, Marinette knew it was a losing battle. Without her powers she was no match for his strength and endurance. "Why do you care so much anyway?"

"What, is it not enough to want my friend to have her work get recognized by the person it was intended for?"

She narrowed her eyes. It didn't _sound_ like a compelling enough reason for him to be so enthusiastic about this. But she couldn't come up with any good reason to argue, so she conceded. "Fine," she grumbled. "Give it back, and I'll text him right now."

With her hand held out to him expectantly, she saw suspicion change to resignation as his gaze flitted between her palm and her eyes. "Okay, fine. But I get final approval over what gets sent," he said just as he placed it gently in her grasp.

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Fine… I still don't really see why this had to become such a big thing though…" She muttered under her breath as she opened up her chat window with Adrien, and started to type.

"'Dear, Adrien?'" Chat asked, eyebrows raised.

"Ugh," Marinette groaned, "see I'm so bad at this. I never know what to say."

"Just tell him about the concert tomorrow, and say the same thing you told me."

"I'm not gonna tell him I've noticed he's seemed down lately. He'll think I'm some crazy stalker and never talk to me again."

"No, he won't." Chat looked like he was struggling to bite back laughter. "But you can probably leave that part out."

"Okay, okay, okay. I can _do_ this," she said more to herself than to Chat Noir.

Picking up her phone again she quickly typed out what she hoped was a more coherent version of the thoughts tumbling through her head. Something she'd say to a friend.

_**Marinette:**_ _Hey Adrien, I don't know if you heard about Jagged Stone inviting Kitty Section to play at his show tomorrow night, but the band would love if were able to join them as their keyboardist again! And don't worry about your stage costume – I've got it covered!_

"How's this?" She passed the phone over to Chat.

He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "It's not bad. A bit professional. But I can fix that for you."

"What do you mean fix it – wait, stop typing!" She leapt up as soon as she saw his claws tap across the bottom of her phone screen. But yet again, she was too slow for him.

"Too late, sent!" His eyes shone as he turned the phone around for her to see.

Below the message she had so carefully typed out were two more lines of text.

_**Marinette:**__ Let me know if you can get away for a night!_

_**Marinette: **__The costume is gonna look great on you ;)_

"Chat!" Marinette gasped in horror. She couldn't take it back now.

He gave an infuriatingly smug shrug. "I made it more interesting. No guy could say no to that."

"This is a disaster," she groaned. "How did I let you talk me into this?"

"No getting out of it now, you might as well just hand over those shoulder pads so we can start tailoring them."

Her worry momentarily fading, she scrunched her nose at him. "Wait, what?"

"You were worried it wouldn't fit him. So just try it on me," he said matter-of-factly.

Marinette scoffed. "Chat. I am not letting you wear Adrien's clothes, that would be silly…"

The image of Chat wearing Adrien's signature white overshirt, jeans and orange shoes over his skin tight suit – cat bell and claws still included – surfaced involuntarily in Marinette's mind. There was something eerie about it. She didn't like it.

"…and weird. It would just be weird," she finished with a mumble.

"They're hardly even his yet. I know for a fact he won't mind."

He was teasing her. And the fact that she still couldn't pinpoint exactly why he was so stuck on helping her out with this wasn't making it any better. "You're not going to leave until I say yes, are you?"

He leaned forward, his tail swishing excitedly. "Nope."

His eyes were shining and Marinette had to bite back a smile. _I guess they aren't exactly Adrien's yet. And the two of them DO have similar body types…_ Taking one last look over him, she instructed him to stand in the center of her room while she gathered the various pieces.

Guiding him through the straps, and tying them beneath his arms was done with much less resistance than she expected. With how fidgety and distracted Chat could be, Marinette was surprised that he was perfectly still, and listened to her every direction. He never once snagged any of his own super costume on her newly designed stage gear. It was like he had been fitted in outfits like this thousands of times before.

Lastly, she pulled the unicorn mask over his head – which proved to be more difficult than anticipated with his unruly hair and cat ears. After some fussing, she got it to fit snugly over his black mask, and she stepped back to try and assess if all the details looked right.

Mouth quirked to the side in concentration, she looked over how his arms were sticking out beneath the oversized should pads. Chat's general frame and height did seem to match how she'd pictured the ensemble on Adrien, but something about his arms looked off.

Walking back up to him intently, she grabbed his upper arm to inspect it and make sure she hadn't tied the under-straps too tightly.

"Something wrong?" Chat asked curiously as she lifted and extended his arm out and back in a few times.

Still lost in her own focus, she spoke to herself more than to him. "Well, everything _seems _to fit well, except that your arms are a lot more defined than his are," she squeezed his bicep distractedly. "So, it's making the fit of the whole thing just look a little odd."

What she could see of his brow beneath the double masks, was furrowed as if she had offended him. He opened his mouth like he was going to argue about the musculature of his arms, but he quickly closed it again.

Then the corner of his lips twitched mischievously. "How do you know? Been checking them out, Princess?" He lightly flexed beneath where her palm was still resting on his upper arm.

Mortified, she yanked her hand back like he had burned her. She didn't know if he was insinuating that she had been checking out _his_ muscles or Adrien's, but either way she wasn't going to ask to find out. Unable to look away from his smug face, she was sure that her cheeks _were_ burning.

"Stupid cat," she mumbled and reached up to pinch the skin right above his collar – where she knew he'd be able to feel it.

"Ouch!" Clawed fingers flew to his neck to gently rub the spot where hers had just been.

She only raised her eyebrows in response; challenging him.

His shocked expression dropped, and he grinned sheepishly. "Okay, I guess I deserved that."

Marinette nodded once, approvingly.

"Really, though, does it look okay? Is there any extra work you need to do?"

With her blush beginning to fade, Marinette was glad to shift back into work mode.

Finally looking at the whole picture, she realized how ridiculous he looked. The white, green, and purple of the rock outfit clashed horribly with his all black cat suit and the golden bell. His face looked heavy and crowded from wearing two masks, and the unicorn horn didn't go with his extra ears either.

She had to suppress a giggle. "You look like an idiot."

His brow furrowed in offense again, "hey!"

Marinette was laughing openly now. "Sorry, sorry. It's just because it looks so strange with everything else going on," she gestured to him up and down. "I'm sure it'll look good on Adrien though, and that's the whole point, right?"

A grin peeked out below Chat Noir's masks. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Good," she nodded. "Now take it off and get out of here so I can get some sleep."

He gasped, this time only feigning offense. "I let you use my body for fashion purposes, and you just kick me out? That's cold, Princess."

"The world of fashion is a cruel place, Kitty," she matched one of his earlier smug shrugs.

With an easy laugh he carefully took off the ensemble, and handed it back to her. She followed him as he made his way up the ladder to her bed.

She was just at the top, when he stopped and turned back to her, on hand ready to push up on the skylight. "I hope your friend is able to make it tomorrow."

Marinette bit her lip and shifted her gaze away. "Me too."

Chat gave one last soft chuckle, coupled with another of his signature winks before he gracefully crawled up through the window, and leapt off into the night.

**ooo**

Marinette wrung her hands together anxiously. It was only five minutes before showtime, and the whole thing was seeming more and more ludicrous by the second. Everyone in Kitty Section had been more than enthusiastic about Adrien joining in for the night. _Thank God,_ Marinette repeated to herself for the thousandth time that night. It wasn't until that morning when Adrien finally texted her back that she realized she had also forgotten to tell the band themselves about her idea.

A few weeks ago, it would have been a dream come true to wake up to a text from Adrien. And while her heart was still beating distractingly hard when she saw his name pop up on her phone screen, she willed herself to stay firmly in friend mode. He had agreed to come, and was thrilled to be wearing another Marinette Dupain-Cheng original. (She may have let out a single squeal at that, but she'd deny it no matter how many times Tikki teased her about it). But there was still no guarantee that he'd be able to get away from Nathalie.

"Four minutes until curtain. Is your man still coming Ms. Dupain-Cheng?" The staticky voice of Penny Rolling came over the headset that Marinette had been given.

"Err," she faltered as she checked her phone one more time, rereading the last text Adrien had sent her almost four hours ago.

_**Adrien: Hopefully I'll see you soon!**_

_**Marinette: **__Okay, no worries if you can't make it! :)_

Except there were worries. She was _very_ worried. There was the little notification next to the message that said he read it back when she sent it, but nothing else. No further confirmation, no asking about how he'd get into the venue, or where he could find her. And Penny's voice was getting increasingly more frantic as the rest of the band was now almost fully dressed and ready to go.

Marinette was about to turn away from the barricade that separated her from the anxiously waiting fans in the front row, when she heard a familiar voice whisper her name.

"Psst, Marinette," the voice called. "Over here!"

Head whipping in the direction she had heard him, she was surprised to see that a tall blond boy dressed in dark jeans, a black turtle neck, and sunglasses, was waving at her enthusiastically.

For a split second she froze, he looked just like – _no, no that's silly. They just have similar body types, remember?_

Momentary brain blip over, elation filled her chest. He was here. _Adrien_ was here. Everything was going to be okay.

"You made it!" She rushed over to him and resisted the urge to throw her arms around his neck in relief.

"Yeah!" He was practically bouncing with excitement. "I'm so sorry I'm so late! I had to convince Nathalie that Ms. Tsurugi had demanded a last-minute fencing practice for me and Kagami. She insisted on seeing Kagami before she'd let me leave."

Adrien gestured behind him to where his bodyguard and Kagami were standing, wearing outfits that matched his – even down to the sunglasses. In unison the two of them flashed peace signs at Marinette.

"I, uh, I hope it's okay that she came with me," Adrien rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. "I wasn't sure if… it was the only excuse I could think of, and – "

"Adrien, it's fine."

And it really was fine. Ever since the events that had led up to Master Fu losing his memories, and Marinette becoming the Guardian, she had promised herself to stop putting her love for Adrien above everything else. It wasn't always easy, and she still had slip ups, but every day it got easier. And seeing the genuine excitement on his face right now as he took in the sights of the venue, Marinette realized that nothing else mattered.

"Marinette! Is he here or not!?" The headset screeched in her ear.

"Oh!" She jumped at the noise. "Okay, come on. Penny is in panic mode; we have to get you onstage!"

Grabbing Adrien by the wrist and beckoning for Kagami and Adrien's bodyguard to follow them around the barricade and past the few security guards, she led them all backstage.

With the other two staying behind so that Kagami could chat with the rest of Kitty Section about how they prepared for such a big show, Marinette ushered Adrien into one of the dressing rooms where his outfit was waiting for him.

"Sorry, we're going to have to do this quick." She was out of breath as she hefted the shoulder pads and chest plate into her arms.

"Marinette, it's fine." With his sunglasses now left on the counter, he turned to face her, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I've done the quick-change thing hundreds of times before; we have more time than you think."

"R-right." His eyes stared down at her with a familiar shine that still made her stomach flutter. But she had to focus on the task at hand. "Okay, arms up!"

Adrien was as easy to dress as she expected, his years of modeling clearly benefitting him in this situation. He knew just when to lift his arms so she could reach underneath them to tie everything correctly, and when to move so that he wasn't in her way too. Marinette made quick work of the chest piece of the outfit, and moved swiftly on to the mask, which she let him put on himself.

"Is it okay?" She asked shyly as he looked himself over in the mirror.

"Okay?" He turned back around; his eyes perfectly accentuated by the green lightning bolt that dashed across the white of the mask. "It's perfect! The whole thing – the outfit, the mask, being here at all – just, thank you Marinette."

There was a moment of hesitation while she just smiled back at him, before he lunged forward and scooped her up into a hug. It was crushing and sort of uncomfortable with all of his awkward layers on, but it sent heat to her cheeks nonetheless.

"O-of course!" She squeaked as he put her back down.

He opened his mouth to say something more, but there was a knock at the door. A very frazzled looking Penny Rolling didn't waste a second before she slammed it open, and yelled at them to get Adrien onstage.

Sharing a quick glance and a giggle first, Marinette and Adrien heeded Penny's orders.

They met up with the rest of the band, who all patted Adrien on the back and thanked him for being able to make it. Then the lights turned down, and a nervous hush fell over them all as they made their way on stage.

Even standing in the wings, Marinette felt nervous for them. But when the lights came back up and Rose's voice rang throughout the stadium, she knew they'd be okay.

Everyone looked and sounded great. Marinette was happy to see that Adrien's outfit did fit in with everyone else's perfectly. As much as she tried to avoid it, she couldn't stop herself from staring at him. He seemed different up there. Like he had already adopted a sort of stage persona. He was lively, and free.

It was mesmerizing.

And if her eyes weren't deceiving her, he seemed to be shooting glances her way too. On the fifth time she saw his gaze shift to hers, she got up the courage to keep hers locked on him. There was something almost achingly familiar about the way his cheekbones rose up to his mask when he flashed her a subtle crooked smile.

And then he gave her a wink. A wink that was so unmistakable, it was like the entire gravity of the earth had shifted.

**oooooooooo**

* * *

**A/N:** **Since this was entirely from Marinette's perspective I struggled a bit to make it fully clear - but in my mind (going off the of the relative vagueness of the end of Season 3), Adrien and Kagami aren't officially dating, even though Marinette suspects that they're at least on their way to being together.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll have the next one up soon!**


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